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MAIN 


B    E 


T  H  V 


UELATIOXS 


BOTANY  TO  AGRICULTURE 


A     L  E  C  TUBE 


DELIVERED     BEFORE    THE 


^JVly\S5ACHUSETT3    -j3oy\FJD   OF  ^QFJICULTUFJE, 
AT  BAHRE.  DEC.  9, 


BY     WILLIAM     S.     CLARK. 


BOSTON  : 

\V  K>  I  < ;  1 1  T    A:     I M  )  T  T  E  K,    s  T  A  T  K    P  IJ  1  X  T  E  R  S. 

U>   Pnovixc  K  STRKI.T. 

1873. 


THE    RELATIONS 


BOTANY  TO  AGRICULTURE 


A.   LECTURE 

•>• 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 

MASSACHUSETTS  BOARD  OF  AGRICULTURE, 

AT    BARRE,    DECEMBER    9rn,    1872. 


By  WILLIAM  Sf  CLARK, 

n 


IOAN  STACC 

GIFT 


THE  RELATIONS  OF  BOTANY  TO  AGRICULTURE. 


BY  WILLIAM   S.   CLARK. 


Mr.  Chairman  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : — There  is  much 
reason  for  gratitude  and  encouragement  in  the  fact  that  the 
general  subject  of  agricultural  education  need  no  longer  be 
discussed  at  the  meetings  of  this  Board.  That  good  mental 
training,  some  literary  culture  and  familiarity  with  the  laws 
and  phenomena  of  nature  are  useful  to  the  farmer,  is  no  longer 
denied.  That  chemistry,  by  revealing  the  composition  of  air, 
water,  soils  and  manures,  as  well  as  of  plants  and  animals, 
has  rendered  a  rational  system  of  agriculture  possible,  is  uni- 
versally admitted.  The  chemical  force,  however,  exerts  its 
influence  principally  upon  dead  matter,  and  is  subordinate  to 
that  other  greater  mystery  which  organizes  mineral  substances 
into  those  varied  forms  of  vegetation  which  clothe  the  earth 
with  beauty  and  furnish  the  indispensable  food  of  animals. 

Baron  von  Liebig  has  said  :  w  The  scientific  basis  of  agricul- 
ture embraces  a  knowledge  of  all  the  conditions  of  vegetable 
life,  of  the  origin  of  the  elements  of  plants,  and  of  the  source 
from  which  they  derive  their  nourishment."  Professor  Lind- 
ley  also  asserts  that  "good  agriculture  and  horticulture  are 
founded  upon  the  laws  of  vegetable  physiology ; "  and  that 
"  no  man  deserves  the  name  of  gardener  who  is  not  master  of 
everything  known  as  to  the  way  in  which  plants  feed,  breathe, 
grow,  digest,  and  have  their  being."  How  astonishing  and 
humiliating  then  to  every  enlightened  American  must  be  the 
fact  that  while  in  Europe  almost  every  university  and  every 
large  city  has  its  botanic  garden  for  the  instruction  and  enter- 
tainment of  students  and  people,  there  is  not  in  these  United 
States  a  single  general  collection  of  living  plants,  systemati- 
cally arranged  and  adapted  to  convey  any  adequate  idea  of  the 
wonders  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  It  seems,  therefore,  not 


160 


inappropriate  to  devote  this  hour  to  a  consideration  of  the 
nature  and  objects  of  Botany,  its  relations  to  agriculture,  and 
the  position  it  should  occupy  in  the  education  of  farmers. 
The  study  of  this  science,  with  suitable  facilities  and  a  proper 
regard  to  its  practical  applications,  cannot  fail  to  add  im- 
mensely to  the  material  wealth,  the  intellectual  and  aesthetic 
culture,  and  thus  to  the  happiness  and  general  welfare  of  the 
community.  Nevertheless  many,  even  of  our  best-informed 
people,  not  only  have  no  appreciation  of  its  power  to  please  or 
benefit,  but  actually  regard  it  with  prejudice,  so  vague  and 
erroneous  are  their  ideas  concerning  it. 

Some  suppose  it  treats  merely  of  flowers,  and  consequently 
while  well  enough  as  a  pastime  for  school-girls,  is  utterly  un- 
worthy the  attention  of  a  sensible  and  industrious  man  or 
woman.  They  have  an  idea  that  the  sunflower,  the  poppy, 
the  hollyhock,  and  such  like  blossoms,  are  the  loftiest,  most 
intricate  and  most  profitable  themes  with  which  the  botanist 
has  to  do, — which  is  just  as  correct  as  to  suppose  the  science 
of  anthropology  to  consist  in  the  study  of  hats  and  bonnets. 
Flowers  are,  indeed,  conspicuous  and  important  parts  of 
plants,  where  they  occur,  and  well  worthy  our  admiration  and 
study.  But  a  large  portion  of  the  species  of  the  vegetable 
world  are  flowerless,  yet  they  must  be  included  in  botani- 
cal science,  and  we  shall  find  that  the  knowledge  of  some  of 
them  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  agriculture. 

Others,  again,  imagine  the  chief  business  of  the  botanist  to 
be  the  gathering  and  pressing  of  specimens  which,  in  their 
appearance,  are  calculated  to  awaken  feelings  of  disgust  rather 
than  of  pleasure  in  the  breast  of  the  unscientific  observer. 
Dried  plants  are  of  much  service  for  purposes  of  investigation 
and  reference,  but  their  acquisition  is  by  no  means  the  chief 
end  of  the  science.  Many  a  person  has  collected  an  admirable 
herbarium  who  was  no  botanist  in  any  proper  sense  of  the 
term. 

As  chemistry  originated  in  alchemy,  which  was  a  search  for 
the  elixir  of  life,  destined  to  cure  all  diseases,  so  the  early 
botanists  were  incited  to  a  critical  examination  of  plants  by  a 
desire  to  procure  new  medicines,  and  ascribed  remedial  virtues 
to  every  species,  even  to  the  most  inert.  The  first  work  on 
botany  in  the  English  language  was  entitled,  in  the  antique  style, 


"  The  Great  Herbal  whiche  giveth  parfyct  knowledge  and  un- 
derstandyng  of  all  manner  of  Herbes  &  their  gracyous  vertues 
whiche  God  hathe  ordeyned  for  our  prosperous  welfare  and 
helth,  for  they  hele  and  cure  all  manner  of  dyseases  &  sek- 
nesses  that  fall  or  misfortune  to  all  manner  of  creatoures  of 
God  created,  practysed  by  many  expert  &  wyse  masters,  as 
Avicenna,  &c.,  &c.,  prented  by  me  Peter  Traveris,  1516." 
The  title  of  one  printed  in  London  in  1551  is,  "A  new  Herbal 
wherein  the  names  of  herbs  in  Greke,  Latin,  Englysh,  Dutch, 
Frenche,  and  in  the  Potecaries  and  Herbaries  Latin,  with  all 
the  properties,  degrees,  and  natural  places  of  the  same, 
gathered  and  made  by  William  Turner,  Physician  unto  the 
Duke  of  Somersettes  Grace."  Botanic  gardens  were  formerly 
called  physic  gardens,  and  were  designed  especially  for  the 
instruction  of  physicians,  the  growth  of  drugs,  and  for  testing 
the  medicinal  properties  of  new  plants.  The  Roman  emper- 
ors maintained  such  a  garden  on  the  island  of  Crete,  and  Mon- 
tezuma  had  one  at  Mexico  at  .the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest. 
Medical  botany,  at  the  present  time,  is  merely  an  important 
branch  of  the  applied  science,  and  one  very  greatly  neglected 
in  this  country.  Botany,  however,  is  something  more  than 
the  science  of  roots  and  herbs. 

Another  common  objection  against  this  study  is  founded 
upon  the  fact  that  the  botanical  names  of  plants  are  in  Latin, 
and  the  descriptive  terms  are  largely  derived  from  the  ancient 
languages  and  must  be  learned  by  careful  application.  If  the 
botanist  had  no  other  aim  than  to  acquire  the  names  of  the 
one  hundred  thousand  species  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  it 
would  be  a  forbidding  and  unremunerative  task ;  though  it 
should  be  remembered  that  a  Latin  word  is  quite  as  easily 
retained  in  memory  as  an  English  word  that  is  new.  Latin 
names  are,  also,  much  more  easily  spelled  and  pronounced 
than  the  popular  names  applied  to  plants  in  their  native  coun- 
tries, when  they  have  any,  but  the  greater  part  have  none 
whatever  till  Latin  ones  are  given  them.  There  are  many 
obvious  advantages  in  botanists  of  all  nations  having  as  thev 
do  this  one  universal  language,  and  the  precision  of  botanical 
descriptions  resulting  from  an  accurate  terminology  is,  more- 
over, a  source  of  very  great  pleasure  to  the  student,  and 
renders  botany  one  of  the  most  useful  means  of  mental  disci- 


6 

pline.  Comparing  botanical  studies  with  the  classics  and  mathe- 
matics, Professor  Lindley  says:  "These  subjects  train  the 
memory  and  the  reasoning  faculties,  but  they  do  not  touch 
the  habit  of  observation."  This  is  of  prime  importance, 
and  best  acquired  by  the  pursuits  of  the  naturalist.  Hence 
Professor  Edward  Forbes  remarks  :  "  The  study  of  an  animal 
or  vegetable  species  is  the  perfection  of  observation  as  far  as 
that  species  is  concerned.  The  form,  the  substance,  the  quali- 
ties, the  phenomena  of  existence,  the  influence  of  surrounding 
objects,  are  all  observed  with  the  greatest  precision  and  de- 
fined so  as  to  be  capable  of  expression  in  words.  No  point 
affecting  that  species  is  left  untouched.  The  study  of  a  group 
or  genus  of  animals  or  vegetables  is  in  like  manner  the  per- 
fection of  discrimination.  All  the  members  of  the  group  are 
compared  in  all  their  parts  with  each  other,  the  relations  which 
they  have  in  common  are  all  summed  up  and  their  differences 
recorded  in  every  possible  point  of  view.  The  causes  of  those 
.relations  and  differences  are  carefiilly  inquired  into  and  a  sur- 
vey is  taken  of  the  bearings  of  the  whole  group  to  its  proxi- 
mate allies,  and,  finally,  to  all  equivalent  assemblages  in 
organized  nature.  Who  can  rise  up  from  such  a  study  and 
not  feel  mentally  strengthened?  The  mind  in  such  an  exer- 
cise must  gain  in  both  its  analytic  and  synthetic  powers." 

Another  argument  of  great  moment  in  favor  of  botanical 
pursuits  arises  from  the  endless  number  and  variety  of  objects 
for  investigation  everywhere  presented  to  view  whereby  the 
attention  is  awakened  and  all  the  powers  of  the  mind  kept  in 
a  condition  of  activity.  In  mathematical  and  classical  studies 
the  lack  of  interest  often  entirely  hinders  progress  and  tends 
to  beget  dullness  and  inattention.  In  the  training  of  young 
men  to  become  intelligent  and  progressive  farmers  and  gar- 
deners, the  value  of  this  kind  of  mental  culture  and  discipline 
can  hardly  be  overestimated.  The  records  of  worthless  ex- 
periments which  fill  our  agricultural  libraries  attest  the  truth 
of  this  assertion,  and  show  that  more  education  is  imperatively 
demanded  in  this  profession. 

It  has  been  said  that  a  person  might  be  an  excellent  botan- 
ist without  knowing  the  name  of  a  single  species.  While  this 
is  not  literally  true,  it  expresses  with  great  force  the  fact  that 
the  names  of  plants  do  not  constitute  the  science  of  botany. 


They  bear  about  the  same  relation  to  it  that  a  Webster's 
spelling-book  does  to  English  literature.  The  word  botany 
means  a  plant,  and  every  plant  has  once  existed  in  a  single 
cell.  All  plants  are  either  singfe  cells  or  aggregations  of 
them,  and  differ  from  each  other  only  in  the  number,  form 
and  mode  of  combination  of  these  their  constituent  elements. 
The  foundation  of  our  science,  therefore,  is  seen  to  lie  in  a 
knowledge  of  the  vegetable  cell  and  the  changes  of  which  it  is 
susceptible.  By  the  aid  of  the  compound  microscope  we  learn 
that  a  uni-cellular  plant  consists  of  a  globule  of  protoplasm 
enveloped  in  a  thin  membrane  of  cellulose.  This  protoplasm 
is  in  an  albuminous  fluid,  somewhat  like  the  white  of  an  egg, 
and  usually  containing  one  or  more  granules  floating  in  it, 
which  are  apparently  analogous  to  the  yolk.  Under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  mysterious  force  which  we  call  life,  this  gelatinous 
fluid  exhibits  a  tendency,  under  favoring  circumstances,  to 
divide  and  increase  in  quantity,  producing  the  phenomenon  of 
growth.  In  the  simplest  plants  this  division  occurs  within  the 
outer  envelope,  and  each  portion  develops  upon  itself  a  new 
membrane  and  gradually  increases  to  the  usual  size  of  the 
parent.  By  this  process,  the  original  cell  is  burst  and  de- 
stroyed, and  the  same  operation  continues  during  the  growing 
period,  producing  in  the  aggregate  countless  numbers  of  indi- 
viduals. Most  plants,  however,  consist  of  a  combination  of 
cells,  arranged  in  threads,  or  thin  expansions,  or  masses  of 
various  but  definite  forms,  each  species  assuming  at  length,  on 
maturity,  its  own  characteristic  shape  and  substance. 

Ordinary  growth,  as  in  the  grasses,  occurs  by  the  subdivision 
of  cells  into  two  parts  by  the  formation  of  a  partition  in  the  pro- 
toplasm, and  then  each  of  these  parts  enlarges  to  the  normal 
size  and  becomes  a  perfect  cell.  The  lower  or  inner  one  gen- 
erally remains  stationary,  while  the  upper  or  outer  one  again 
subdivides,  and  so  the  process  goes  on  until  the  plant  attains 
its  complete  development.  This  growth  may  be  well  nigh 
imperceptible,  as  in  some  of  the  lichens,  which  stand  for  cen- 
turies almost  unchanged,  or  it  may  be  amazingly  rapid,  as  in 
the  giant  puff-ball,  which  has  been  known  to  form  sixty-six 
millions  of  cells  per  minute.  Upon  reaching  a  certain  degree 
of  maturity,  every  species  is  observed  to  produce  and  cast  off 
seeds,  bulblets,  or  spores,  usually  in  large  numbers,  for  the 


8 

continuation  of  its  kind.  This  may  be  followed  by  immediate 
death  and  decay,  as  in  the  mushroom  and  century-plant,  or, 
as  in  most  perennials,  growth  and  fruiting  may  go  on  together 
for  many  years,  and  the  decline  of  the  vital  force  be  gradual. 
In  the  simpler  forms  of  vegetation  we  find  great  uniformity  of 
structure,  even  when  the  individual  attains  an  enormous  size,  as 
in  the  gigantic  kelp  of  Cape  Horn,  which  reaches  a  length  of 
several  hundred  feet,  but  shows  no  distinction  of  vegetative 
organs.  If,  however,  we  plant  the  seed  of  an  apple,  and 
watch  its  progress  from  germination  to  maturity,  we  notice  at 
once  several  sets  of  organs  with  distinct  forms  and  functions. 
The  young  tree  has  a  root  which  avoids  the  light  and  pene- 
trates the  soil  in  all  directions  where  the  conditions  are  suit- 
able. It  has  a  stem  of  curious  construction  which  rises  from 
the  ground,  lifting  its  head  high  into  the  air.  It  is  covered 
with  leaves,  which  are  evidently  designed  to  expose  the  larg- 
est possible  surface  to  the  sunlight  and  the  atmosphere.  After 
a  few  years  of  growth,  a  portion  of  its  annual  crop  of  buds 
develop  into  blossoms,  which  in  time  become  fruits  with  seeds. 
Thus  the  chief  end  of  all  vegetable  life,  so  far  as  the 
plant  itself  is  concerned,  seems  to  be  the  perpetuation  of  the 
species, — the  multiplication  of  itself.  But  in  the  wise  econ- 
omy of  nature  no  living  thing  exists  for  itself  alone,  and  veg- 
etation is  the  indispensable  forerunner  and  companion  of 
animal  existence.  The  air  we  br$eathe,  our  food,  our  clothing, 
our  timber,  our  fuel,  our  artificial  light,  and  the  mechanical 
power  of  our  domestic  animals,  and  our  steam-engines,  are  all 
the  more  or  less  direct  results  of  vegetable  growth.  Now, 
living  beings  grow  only  by  the  digestion  and  assimilation  of 
food,  and  one  of  the  first  objects  of  inquiry  for  the  botanist  is, 
"Upon  what,  and  how  do  plants  feed?"  They  are  seen  to 
flourish  as  epiphytes  without  any  connection  with  water  or 
soil ;  they  thrive  most  luxuriantly  in  the  briny  ocean,  and  they 
spring  out  of  the  earth  as  if  that  were  the  great  storehouse  of 
their  existence.  The  careful  investigations  of  modern  science 
have  explained  these  mysteries  and  taught  us  what  it  con- 
cerns every  botanist  and  every  farmer  to  know,  and  what, 
thanks  to  Professor  Johnson,  they  may  now  readily  learn, 
namely,  "  How  Crops  Grow,"  and  "  How  Crops  Feed."  We 
are  also  promised  a  volume,  by  the  same  learned  author, 


upon  "Tillage  and  Fertilizers,"  that  we  may  understand  how 
to  apply  our  knowledge  to  the  production  of  the  most  profit- 
able crops,  as  well  as  how  to  improve  and  perpetuate  the 
fertility  of  our  soil. 

We  have  thus  alluded  to  a  few  facts  of  Structural  and  Phy- 
siological Botany,  to  show  what  an  immense  and  important 
field  of  research  is  opened  to  the  botanist  without  any  regard 
to  the  names  of  plants.  Descriptive  and  Systematic  Botany 
are,  however,  by  no  means  to  be  neglected.  The  human 
mind  naturally  associates  together  similar  objects,  and  sepa- 
rates those  which  are  unlike.  The  classification  of  plants  is, 
therefore,  a  necessity,  and  greatly  facilitates  the  study  and 
comprehension  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  Various  systems 
of  classification  have  been  suggested,  most  of  them  of  a  very 
artificial  character  and  so  quite  unsatisfactory.  Dioscorides, 
for  example,  in  the  first  century  of  our  era,  names  the  six 
hundred  species  he  describes  under  the  following  four  divisions, 
viz.  :  Aromatic,  Alimentary,  Vinous  and  Medicinal  Plants. 
Linnaeus  made  twenty-four  classes,  based  upon  the  organs  of 
fructification.  This  system  was  remarkably  simple  and  com- 
plete, and  rendered  it  very  easy  for  beginners  to  learn  the 
names  of  plants,  though  often  associating  together  those  which 
were  very  unlike.  In  more  recent  times,  the  so-called  natu- 
ral system  has  been  adopted,  the  plan  of  which  is  to  bring 
together  groups  of  plants  wjiich  resemble  each  other,  not 
merely  in  one  particular,  but  in  their  general  characteristics. 
Thus  we  have  the  Rosacece,  furnishing  the  queen  of  flowers 
and  nearly  all  the  fruits  of  the  temperate  regions ;  the  Palm- 
acece,  containing  the  most  beautiful  and  useful  trees  of  the 
tropics  ;  and  the  Grraminacece,  producing  fodder  for  cattle  and 
most  of  the  bread  for  the  human  race.  As  there  are  only 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  orders  of  flowering  plants  it  is  not 
a  difficult  matter  for  the  student  of  botany,  with  proper 
means,  to  acquire  a  correct  apprehension  of  the  vegetation  of 
the  entire  globe,  so  that  wherever  he  may  be  he  may  feel  in  a 
certain  sense  acquainted  with  the  scenery  about  him.  The  im- 
portance of  botanical  knowledge  to  the  traveller,  or  even  to  the 
reader  of  a  book  of  travels,  is  so  obvious  that  it  hardly  needs 
illustration.  Darwin  says,  "As  in  music  the  person  who  un- 
derstands every  note  will,  if  he  also  possesses  a  proper  taste, 


10 

more  thoroughly  enjoy  the  whole,  so  he  who  examines  every 
part  of  a  fine  view  may  also  thoroughly  comprehend  the  full 
and  combined  effect.  Hence  a  traveller  should  be  a  botanist 
for  in  all  views  plants  form  the  chief  embellishment."  Hum- 
boldt  often  expresses  his  admiration  of  the  plant  world.  In 
his  Cosmos  he  remarks  that,  "  Although  the  character  of  differ- 
ent portions  of  the  earth  depends  on  the  combination  of  exter- 
nal phenomena,  as  the  outlines  of  mountains,  the  physiognomy 
of  plants  and  animals,  the  azure  of  the  sky,  the  forms  of  the 
clouds  and  the  transparency  of  the  atmosphere,  it  must  still 
be  admitted  that  the  vegetable  mantle  with  which  the  earth  is 
decked  constitutes  the  main  feature  of  the  picture." 

The  ability  of  a  person  to  eojoy  and  improve  the  constantly 
changing  scenes  of  travel  will  be  readily  seen  to  depend  upon 
his  previous  preparation  by  contrasting  the  experience  of  an 
Agassiz  with  that  of  a  common  sailor  upon  the  same  journey. 
The  one  is  continually  under  the  influence  of  interesting 
thoughts  and  pleasurable  emotions,  during  every  waking  hour 
of  health,  whether  on  the  land  or  on  the  sea.  New  facts  rush 
in  upon  his  already  crowded  mind  incessantly  and  are  forth- 
with arranged  in  their  appropriate  places  to  serve  his  great 
purposes  in  the  various  departments  of  science.  The  igno- 
rant, unthinking  sailor,  on  the  other  hand,  goes  whistling 
round  the  world,  acquiring  but  little  information  and  utterly 
unable  to  use  that.  The  mental  habits  and  capacities  of  edu- 
cated and  uneducated  men  are  just  as  different  in  every-day 
life, — on  the  farm,  or  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Agricul- 
ture. Other  things  being  equal,  he  who  has  the  best-trained 
intellect  and  the  most  knowledge  will  everywhere  learn  the 
most  and  accomplish  the  most. 

The  general  character  of  the  vegetation  in  every  country 

depends  chiefly  upon  the  nature  of  the  soil  and  the  climate, 

that  is,  upon  the  amount  of  heat  and  cold,  moisture  and 
drought,  sunshine  and  cloudiness,  and  the  force  of  the  winds. 
The  least-observant  traveller  can  hardly  fail  to  notice  the  pecu- 
liarities of  plant  growth  in  different  portions  of  the  world. 
Even  in  our  own  country,  we  have  regions  with  singular  and 
remarkable  vegetation,  such  as  the  giant  cactus  of  Arizona,  the 
sagebrush  of  Nevada,  the  red-woods  of  California,  the  herbace- 
ous carpet  of  the  prairies,  and  the  long-leaved  pines  of  the 


11 

Carol  inas.  Whoever  has  ascended  Mount  Washington  must 
have  been  struck  by  the  gradual  dwarfing  of  the  forest  firs  and 
birches,  until  at  last  they  rise  only  a  foot  or  two  above  the 
ground,  and,  before  he  reaches  the  summit,  disappear  alto- 
gether. The  distribution  of  plants  with  relation  to  latitude, 
elevation  and  climate  constitutes  a  department  of  our  science 
called  Geographical  Botany,  which  is  both  exceedingly  interest- 
ing and  of  much  practical  importance  in  agriculture  and  hor- 
ticulture. Multitudes  of  exotic  plants  are  now  cultivated 
under  glass  in  an  artificial  climate,  and  the  highest  success  in 
this  branch  of  culture  can  only  be  expected  when  the  natural 
conditions  of  each  species  in  its  own  habitat  are  thoroughly 
known  and  imitated.  This  knowledge  is  also  invaluable  to 
those  who  desire  to  introduce  from  abroad  hardy  tree's  and 
shrubs,  as  is  well  illustrated  in  the  attempt  to  grow  the  Patago- 
nian  beech  in  England.  Xot  withstanding  its  evident  ability  to 
endure  the  temperature,  it  was  observed  every  where  to  perish, 
except  in  a  single  locality  on.  the  sea-coast,  where  the  air  was 
very  moist,  as  in  its  native  land.  Every  intelligent  cultivator 
of  fruit  understands  that  he  must  adapt  the  varieties  he  would 
raise  to  the  soil  and  climate  of  his  locality.  Hence  the  Amer- 
ican Pomological  Society  has  prepared  with  great  care  cata- 
logues of  all  kinds  of  fruit  which  are  specially  adapted  to  the 
different  sections  of  our  extended  country.  Even  in  Massa- 
chusetts there  is  a  marked  *  difference  in  the  adaptation  of 
varieties  to  localities.  The  bouquet  of  wines  and  the  flavor 
and  perfection  of  fruits  is  effected  often  by  very  obscure 
causes,  and  there  is  abundant  need  of  well-educated  and 
shrewd  observers  everywhere  in  the  domain  of  horticulture. 
The  best  wines  and  the  best  fruits  are  always  in  demand  at 
the  highest  prices,  and  only  those  who  can  produce  such  can 
hope  for  distinguished  success.  Even  the  age  of  the  vine 
influences  in  a  noticeable  manner  the  quality  of  the  wine, — so 
that  in  Burgundy,  where  there  are  productive  vineyards  two 
hundred  years  old,  it  is  said  the  worth  of  a  vineyard,  as  deter- 
mined by  the  value  of  its  product,  cannot  be  known  before  the 
end  of  thirty  years  from  its  planting.  In  the  Azores,  young 
orange-trees  bear  fruit  with  a  thick  skin  and  many  seeds,  while 
trees  one  hundred  years  old  and  more,  produce  a  much  more 
valuable  fruit  with  a  very  thin  skin  and  no  seeds.  Around 
2 


12 

London  are  twelve  thousand  acres  of  land  devoted  to  the 
raising  of  vegetables,  and  six  thousand  acres  to  the  production 
of  fruit ;  and  even  in  this  limited  area  the  quick-witted  market 
gardeners  have  learned  that  each  -locality  has  its  peculiar 
adaptations,  and  the  principal  crop  of  each  is  regulated  accord- 
ingly, so  that  the  main  supply  of  each  variety  is  grown  in  one 
particular  section.  In  like  manner,  the  finest  damsons  in 
England  are  said  to  ripen  in  Cheshire ;  and  near  Paris,  one 
town  in  a  favored  site,  Montreuil,  sends  to  market  remarkably 
fine  peaches,  to  the  exclusion  almost  of  those  from  other  local- 
ities. Doubtless  many  similar  instances  of  special  adaptations 
in  raising  fruits  or  vegetables  occur  in  this  country.  The  im- 
portance of  attending  to  this  subject  will  not  be  questioned. 

The  necessity  for  the  application  of  botanical  knowledge  to 
agriculture  is  again  clearly  shown  by  the  recent  investiga- 
tions concerning  those  microscopic  fungi,  which  are  among  the 
most  destructive  enemies  of  cultivated  plants,  and  often  sud- 
denly blast  the  hopes  of  the  farmer  and  gardener.  The 
Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  for  1871,  con- 
tains an  interesting  article  on  the  fungi  found  on  the  fruit  of 
the  pear,  tomato  and  grape,  and  the  foliage  and  bark  of  the 
peach,  the  vine  and  the  lilac,  with  excellent  illustrations 
and  many  useful  suggestions  respecting  their  nature  and 
treatment.  The  disease  called  the  yellows,  which — though 
unknown  in  Europe,  where  more  shelter  is  given  to  fruit- 
trees — has  almost  entirely  deprived  Massachusetts  and  the 
whole  of  New  England  of  the  most  delicious  of  our  fruits, 
appears  to  be  only  the  result  of  the  growth  of  a  fungus, 
which  our  peculiar  climate  fosters.  That  careful  observation 
and  experiment  will  devise  some  means  for  its  suppression, 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt.  Can  we  afford  to  neglect 
longer  the  means  which  are  necessary  to  accomplish  this  most 
desirable  result,  as  well  as  to  aid  us  in  preserving  from 
similar  destruction,  the  foliage  and  beauty  of  our  phloxes,  our 
loniceras  and  many  other  ornamental  plants  ? 

The  "Monthly  Report"  for  October,  1872,  contains  an  illus- 
trated article  by  Thomas  Taylor,  microscopist  of  the  Agri- 
cultural Department,  upon  the  onion  blight  and  smut,  which 
have  proved  exceedingly  destructive  in  Essex  County,  in  this 
State.  The  loss  in  a  single  season  upon  a  four-acre  field, 


13 

belonging  to  Benjamin  P.  Ware,  Esq.,  of  Swampscott,  from 
which  were  obtained  specimens  for  examination,  was  estimated 
at  $2,000.  Mr.  Taylor  regards  it  probable  that  the  blight  and 
smut  are  but  different  forms  of  the  same  species,  which  is 
very  tenacious  of  life,  and  develops  so  fast  as  to  ruin  a  prom- 
ising field  in  three  or  four  days.  Mr.  Ware  states  that  the 
common  custom  of  growing  onions  on  the  same  land  for  several 
successive  years  cannot  be  safely  continued  after  the  appear- 
ance of  this  pest,  as  the  spores  will  spring  up  the  following 
year.  The  conservators  of  the  agricultural  interests  of  the 
Commonwealth  certainly  ought  to  encourage  the  study  of 
microscopic  botany  at  the  State  College,  and  ask  for  special 
investigations  in  regard  to  the  habits  and  characteristics  of  so 
formidable  a  foe  to  one  of  our  most  profitable  crops. 

The  mildew  on  the  grape  has  been  the  cause  of  much  annoy- 
ance in  this  country,  while  in  Europe  it  has  inflicted  an  annual 
loss  of  many  millions  of  dollars  in  the  wine  districts,  where 
it  has  raged  for  many  years.  In  Madeira,  where  the  vine  is 
almost  the  only  source  of  revenue,  it  has  caused  the  greatest 
distress,  reducing  the  people  to  actual  starvation,  so  that  con- 
tributions of  food  have  been  sent  to  keep  them  alive.  Shower- 
ing the  infected  foliage  with  dilute  solutions  of  sulphide  of 
calcium  or  sulphurous  acid,  and  dusting  it  with  flowers  of 
sulphur,  have  proved  tolerably  effectual  remedies  ;  but  doubt- 
less improvements  are  to  be  sought  in  this  direction,  and  M. 
Dumas  recently  proposed,  in  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences, 
that  the  government  offer  a  prize  of  $100,000  for  a  means  of 
entirely  preventing  the  ravages  of  this  destructive  parasite. 

In  Europe,  wheat  is  often  attacked  by  a  disease  called 
pepper-brand,  or  bunt,  which  renders  the  grain  disgusting  in 
odor  and  unfit  for  food.  It  has  been  found  by  botanists  to  be 
caused  by  a  fungus  so  minute  that  four  million  plants  may 
occupy  a  single  kernel  of  tl^e  grain.  A  similar  disease,  called 
smut  and  dust-brand,  affects  oats  and  barley,  often  doing 
great  damage.  It  has  been  found  very  useful  in  preventing 
the  attacks  of  these  fungi  to  soak  the  seed-grain,  just  before 
sowing,  in  a  solution  of  sulphate  of  soda ;  then  to  mix  the  moist 
grain  with  caustic  lime,  by  which  the  plants  or  their  spores  are 
destroyed,  if  present. 

Ergot  is  the  distorted  and  diseased  seed  or  grain  of  rye,  and 


14 

sometimes  ol  other  grasses,  caused  by  the  attacks  of  a  fungus, 
and  is  exceedingly  poisonous  to  both  men  and  animals.  It  is 
not  so  likely  to  occur  on  well-drained  land  as  on  that  which  is 
wet. 

Bust  is  a  disease  attacking  grains  and  grasses,  and  occasion- 
ally other  plants,  and  is  found  to  be  caused  by  the  development 
of  minute  fungi  in  the  cellular  tissue  of  the  floral  bracts,  or 
chaff,  and  the  leaves.  It  weakens  the  plant,  and  often  renders 
the  grain  crop  worthless.  The  growth  of  different  fungi  seems 
to  depend  largely  upon  the  state  of  the  weather, — whether  dry, 
moist,  or  variable  in  temperature, — and  is  therefore  difficult  to 
control.  Something  in  addition  to  what  has  been  suggested 
may  be  done  against  these  enemies  by  a  judicious  rotation  of 
crops  ;  by  the  selection  of  the  most  suitable  varieties  of  seed  ; 
by  improved  methods  of  cultivation ;  or  by  removing  from 
fields,  ditches  and  hedgerows  all  those  plants  which  support 
these  injurious  fungi,  and  so  perpetuate  them. 

Another  very  destructive  form  of  fungus  develops  in  woody 
fibre,  in  close,  damp  places,  producing  "dry  rot."  This  is  so 
prevalent  in  some  parts  of  London  that  wood-work  in  houses 
has  to  be  renewed  every  ten  or  twelve  years.  This  form  of 
fungus  may  be  checked  in  its  ravages  by  saturating  the  wood 
with  some  metallic  poison,  as  corrosive  sublimate,  or  chloride 
of  zinc.  Fungi  likewise  often  penetrate  the  wood  of  fruit  and 
forest  trees,  beginning  where  wounds  have  been  made,  and 
gradually  causing  the  death  and  decay  of  the  entire  mass  of 
timber.  In  many  cases,  timber  apparently  sound,  cut  from 
dead  trees,  will  be  found  on  examination  to  be  permeated 
by  the  mycelium  of  some  fungus  which  on  exposure  to 
air  and  moisture  will  develop  and  destroy  its  durability.  The 
growth  of  fungi  on  fruit  which  has  been  bruised  or  injured  by 
insects,  is  one  of  the  most  common  causes  of  decay.  Experi- 
ment has  shown  that  a  sound  appje,  innoculated  with  fungus 
from  a  decaying  one,  may  be  destroyed  in  three  days,  and  its 
tissue  filled  with  the  cells  of  the  destroyer.  The  obvious  rem- 
edy is  extreme  care  in  sorting,  handling  and  storing  the  fruit. 

Time  would  fail  us  to  recount  the  damages  inflicted  upon  the 
husbandman,  and  so  upon  the  race,  by  these  almost  invisible, 
but  innumerable  and  relentless,  foes.  It  must  answer  our  pres- 
ent purpose  to  state  that  every  plant  is  subject  to  their  attacks, 


15 

and  that  their  presence  even  is  often  unsuspected,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  potato  rot,  the  cause  of  which  was  everywhere 
sought  in  vain  for  many  years,  until  at  last  Mr.  Berkeley,  the 
celebrated  botanist  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  in  Lon- 
don, demonstrated  that  a  microscopic  fungus  was  the  undoubted 
source  of  the  terrible  evil.  "  TThere  the  carcass  is,  there  the 
eagles  are  gathered  together,"  and  it  has  been  discovered  that 
the  potato  plant,  weakened  by  the  assault  of  its  principal 
enemy,  is  subsequently  attacked  by  no  less  than  ten  different 
fungi.  More  than  thirty  species  are  parasitic  upon  the  grasses, 
which  are  infested  by  them,  wherever  cultivated,  the  sorghum 
and  cane  of  the  tropics,  as  well  as  the  oats  and  barley  of  the 
Xorth.  The  coffee-tree,  the  orange,  the  olive,  and  the  mul- 
berry suffer  under  the  attacks  of  various  blights,  which, 
obstructing  the  cells  and  stomata  of  the  foliage,  induce  disease 
and  the  failure  of  the  looked-for  crop.  Even  the  silkworm 
has  become  the  victim  of  a  fungus,  to  eradicate  which  millions 
of  dollars  have  been  sent  to  Japan  and  China  for  the  purchase 
of  healthy  eggs,  which  are  annually  imported  into  Southern 
Europe.  Thus  the  knowledge  of  the  origin  of  the  disease  has 
led  to  the  finding  of  a  remedy,  without  which  one  of  the  great 
industries  of  France  and  Italy  must  have  perished.  Still  more 
impressive  is  the  fact  that  epidemic  and  contagious  diseases 
among  men  and  animals  are  usually  accompanied  by  the  growth 
of  microscopic  fungi  on  or  within  the  bodies  diseased,  which 
are  often  the  cause  of  great  discomfort,  and  sometimes  of  death. 
The  argument  in  favor  of  botanical  studies  might  be  still 
further  strengthened  by  allusion  to  the  useful  qualities  of  some 
of  the  larger  species  of  fungus.  The  chemical  composition  of 
these  remarkable  plants  is  very  peculiar,  and  resembles  that 
of  animal  fibre.  Though  the  majority  of  them  are  exceedingly 
poisonous,  yet  more  than  one  hundred  species  are  used  for 
food.  The  savages  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  and  Xew  Zealand  rely 
upon  them  as  staple  articles  of  diet,  and  in  all  parts  of  Europe 
they  are  regarded  as  delicious  luxuries.  In  London,  dried 
truffles  are  worth  five  dollars  per  pound,  and  other  edible  fungi 
are  sold  at  high  prices  ;  and  the  demand  generally  exceeds  the 
supply.  In  Paris,  also,  immense  sums  are  expended  for  them, 
and,  in  1867,  there  was  one  cultivator  of  common  mushrooms 
who  had  twenty-one  miles  of  beds,  twenty  inches  in  width, 


16 

devoted  to  this  crop  in  the  subterranean  passages  of  the  cata- 
combs beneath  the  city.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  a  large 
amount  of  excellent  food  is  annually  wasted  in  our  fields  and 
forests  from  the  ignorance  of  our  people,  who  are  unable  to 
distinguish  the  edible  from  the  poisonous  species,  and  conse- 
quently avoid  them  all.  Many  of  these  might  be  gathered  and 
eaten,  or  sold  in  the  city  markets,  and  many  more  might  be 
profitably  raised  by  our  gardeners.  Even  the  microscopic 
fungi  are  sometimes  useful.  The  mould,  which  epicures  often 
plant  in  their  cheeses  to  impart  a  desired  flavor,  the  yeast- 
plant,  which  is  inseparably  associated  with  the  important  pro- 
cess of  fermentation,  and  the  vinegar  plant,  are  examples  of 
fungi  which  are  beneficial  in  consequence  of  their  power  of 
producing  chemical  changes.  Without  their  aid  we  should 
have  only  soda  or  unleavened  bread,  and  neither  alcohol  nor 
acetic  acid,  except  at  great  expense. 

Turning  now  from  the  least  among  plants  to  the  greatest, 
and  gratifying  thus  our  natural  fondness  for  antithesis,  let  us 
for  a  moment  consider  the  importance  of  botanical  studies  in 
their  relations  to  forestry,  or  the  care,  cultivation  and  utiliza- 
tion of  trees  for  shade,  shelter,  ornament  or  timber.  Much 
discussion  upon  this  subject  has  occurred  of  late  with  special 
reference  to  the  preservation  of  forests  on  our  public  domain, 
and  the  planting  of  useful  species  on  the  treeless  prairies  and 
plains  of  the  West.  Many  millions  of  valuable  forest  trees 
have  been  planted  during  the  past  few  years,  and  enthusiasm 
on  this  subject  has  attained  such  force  in  Nebraska  that  the 
legislature  has  set  apart  a  special  day  to  be  annually  devoted 
to  this  business.  While,  from  the  nature  of  our  government, 
it  seems  impossible  to  accomplish  much  toward  the  permanent 
preservation,  or  the  renewal,  of  our  forests  by  legislation,  great 
good  will  result  from  the  agitation  of  these  topics  by  the  en- 
lightenment of  the  people.  Very  few  are  fully  aware  of  the 
beneficial  influence  of  growing  woods  upon  the  soil,  the  streams, 
the  climate,  the  crops  and  the  salubrity  of  the  atmosphere. 
The  planting,  pruning  and  proper  harvesting  of  a  wood  crop  are 
not  deemed  matters  of  sufficient  utility  to  be  considered  by 
our  land-owners.  Large  areas  of  stony,  bleak  and  barren  soil 
exist  in  our  own  Commonwealth,  which  to-day  would  be 
covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  wood,  except  for  the  per- 


17 

nicious  habit  of  burning  over  recently  cleared  lands  for  the 
sake  of  one  poor  crop  of  rye  or  a  few  years  of  scanty  pastur- 
age. While  the  inventions  of  modern  times  have  provided 
innumerable  substitutes  for  the  wood  which  two  centuries  ago 
seemed  so  indispensable  for  fuel,  house  and  ship  building,  and 
a  thousand  uses  in  the  arts,  it  is  still  an  indisputable  fact  that 
every  country,  to  be  the  comfortable  abode  of  civilized  man, 
must  have  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  its  surface  covered 
with  living  trees.  Wherever  wealth  is  amassed  and  luxuries 
are  sought,  the  planting  of  trees  for  ornament  and  shade,  as 
well  as  for  fruit,  will  be  largely  practised.  The  millions  re- 
cently expended  iipon  the  Central  Park  of  Xew  York  and 
Prospect  Park  in  Brooklyn,  are  indications  of  this  tendency  in 
the  United  States.  But  in  Europe,  and  especially  in  England, 
where  the  law  of  entail  exists,  and  untold  revenues  are  hered- 
itary from  generation  to  generation,  the  royal  palaces  and  the 
mansions  of  the  nobility  are  environed  by  the  most  magnifi- 
cent gardens,  parks  and  forests  which  the  art  of  man  can 
create.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  is  reported  to  have  said  that 
he  never  had  any  suitable  appreciation  of  the  power  of  the 
Almighty,  as  exhibited  in  creation,  until  he  undertook  to  level 
a  small  hill.  Those  who  have  attempted  grading  for  orna- 
mental purposes  will  agree  that  landscape  gardening  is  one  of 
the  most  expensive  luxuries,  and  where  immediate  effect  is  to 
be  produced  by  planting  large  trees,  the  cost  is  enormous. 
This  is  clearly  demonstrated  in  Paris,  where  one  hundred 
thousand  shade-trees  are  maintained  by  the  government  at  an 
annual  expenditure  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  These 
trees  have  to  be  reset  on  an  average  every  twelve  years,  and 
the  expense  of  the  larger  ones  is  from  twenty  dollars  to  twen- 
ty-five dollars  each. 

In  Europe,  all  the  principal  agricultural  schools  teach  the 
whole  art  of  forestry  with  great  thoroughness,  and  the  utmost 
care  is  everywhere  bestowed  upon  the  planting,  keeping  and 
cutting  of  timber.  As  a  large  proportion  of  the  forests  belong 
either  to  the  government  or  to  wealthy  nobles,  it  is  compara- 
tively easy  to  apply  there  the  most  perfect  system  which 
science  and  experience  have  hitherto  been  able  to  devise.  In 
Massachusetts,  we  can  only  hope,  by  the  thorough  education 
of  our  college  graduates,  by  frequent  discussions,  with  the 


18 

powerful  aid  of  the  agricultural  press,  and  by  the  example  of 
a  few  intelligent  leaders,  to  introduce  rational  improvements 
in  this  department  of  our  agriculture. 

Here  again  botanical  knowledge  will  prove  of  very  great 
service.  That  no  one  is  qualified  to  engage  intelligently  in 
tree  culture  without  an  acquaintance  with  Structural  and  Phy- 
siological Botany  is  self-evident ;  but  familiarity  with  Descrip- 
tive and  Geographical  Botany  is  hardly  less  essential.  This 
is  admirably  illustrated  by  the  introduction  of  the  Australian 
Eucalyptus  globulus,  or  blue  gum,  into  cultivation.  It  was 
first  planted  in  France  in  1856,  and  so  rapid  is  its  growth, 
that  plantations  of  this  species  are  estimated  to  produce  five 
times  as  much  valuable  wood  in  the  same  period  as  an  equal 
area  of  native  timber.  The  forests  of  France  are  now  val- 
ued at  eight  hundred  million  dollars.  To  increase  the  annual 
product  fivefold  is  therefore  a  matter  of  some  consequence. 
Hon.  Marshall  P.  Wilder  informs  us  that  he  saw  specimens  of 
blue  gum  in  California  which ,  at  the  age  of  six  years  from  the 
seed,  had  attained  the  height  of  fifty  feet.  This  tree  has  a 
surprising  power  of  absorbing  and  exhaling  moisture,  and  of 
destroying  malarious  exhalations  from  swampy  and  unhealthy 
regions.  It  also  imparts  to  the  air  a  salubrious,  balsamic 
odor.  It  has  been  affirmed  by  good  medical  authority  that 
the  general  planting  of  this  species  in  the  malarial  districts  of 
Southern  Europe  would  be  followed  by  the  speedy  restoration 
of  the  people  to  health,  vigor  and  enterprise. 

Nothing  but  experiments,  continued  for  many  years,  can 
teach  us  what  trees  are  best  adapted  for  planting  in  New  Eng- 
land. The  ailanthus,  which  grows  here  more  rapidly  while 
young  than  any  other  hardy  deciduous  tree,  and  the  European 
larch,  which  has  been  so  successfully  grown  in  Scotland  by 
the  Duke  of  Athol  and  others,  are  among  the  most  promising 
of  foreign  species.  It  is,  however,  quite  probable  that  Japan 
or  China,  whose  vegetation  seems  peculiarly  suited  to  our 
climate,  may  furnish  some  other  more  valuable  kinds  as  yet 
undiscovered  or  untried.  But  we  have  one  among  our  numer- 
ous native  trees  which  ought  to  be  planted  abundantly  wher- 
ever it  will  thrive  and  does  not  already  exist  in  quantity.  The 
sugar  maple  may  be  raised  from  seed  and  transplanted  almost 
as  readily  as  a  Swedish  turnip,  and  in  a  tolerable  soil  grows 


19 

with  rapidity.  Its  timber  is  very  highly  prized  in  the  arts, 
and  the  wood  of  its  branches  is  most  excellent  fuel.  Xo  tree 
is  more  vigorous  or  symmetrical  in  form,  and  none  suffers  less 
from  the  attacks  of  insects.  Its  foliage  is  clean  and  beautiful 
iii  summer,  and  as  the  season  advances  it  assumes  the  most 
gorgeous  tints  of  yellow,  orange  and  scarlet.  The  sap,  which 
flows  freely  from  incisions  or  borings  in  early  spring,  yields  a 
large  amount  of  sugar,  identical  in  its  chemical  composition 
with  that  of  the  cane,  the  beet  and  the  palm,  while  its  pecul- 
iar flavor  is  far  more  agreeable.  Trees  thirty  years  old  will 
furnish  one  pound  of  sugar  per  annum,  and  larger  ones  more, 
according  to  their  size , — the  greatest  well-authenticated  product 
from  a  single  tree  in  one  season  being  about  thirty  pounds. 
What  more  certain  or  sensible  way  of  benefiting  the  public 
and  improving  an  estate  can  there  be  than  to  plant  a  few  hun- 
dred or  thousand  sugar  maples  ? 

When  we  compare  the  cultivated  fields  and  gardens  of 
Massachusetts  with  our  native  flora,  Ave  can  hardly  fail  to  be 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  her  natural  productions  are  chiefly 
rocks,  ice  and  timber.  Xot  a  plant  grows  wild  within  her 
limits  which  is  capable,  even  if  cultivated,  of  furnishing  any 
considerable  amount  of  food,  so  that  only  a  few  wandering 
savages  could  subsist  within  her  borders,  except  for  the  plants 
which  have  been  introduced  from  other  regions.  Our  cereals, 
vegetables,  fruits  and  flowers,  and  our  principal  fodder  crops, 
are  almost  every  one  exotic s,  while  the  great  mass  of  our 
staple  productions  remains  the  same  from  year  to  year ;  yet 
every  intelligent  person  knows  that  new  species  and  varieties 
of  useful  and  ornamental  plants  are  being  constantly  brought 
into  notice  and  cultivation.  With  the  exception  of  a  few 
varieties,  like  the  Concord  grape,  originated  here,  this  work 
has  hitherto  been  done  for  us  mainly  by  botanists  and  horti- 
culturists under  the  patronage  of  European  governments  and 
societies,  many  of  whom  maintain  constantly  both  experimen- 
tal gardeners  at  home  and  intelligent  collectors  searching  for 
desirable  rarities  in  various  parts  of  the  world.  There  are 
also  a  few  enterprising  dealers  in  plants  who  now  employ 
travelling  botanists,  whose  discoveries  enable  them  to  bring  out 
novelties  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  public  to  their  estab- 
lishments and  to  keep  up  the  interest  in  floricultural  pursuits 
3 


20 

among  their  amateur  customers.  Extraordinary  facilities  for 
this  work^have  been  enjoyed  in  England,  in  consequence  of 
the  great  number  of  her  colonies  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe, 
and  the  general  attention  given  to  such  matters  in  a  country 
so  abounding  in  persons  of  wealth  and  culture.  David  Douglas, 
a  botanist  in  the  service  of  the  Koyal  Horticultural  Society, 
sent  to  England  more  than  fifty  new  hardy  trees  and  shrubs, 
and  one  hundred  and  fifty  new  herbaceous  plants,  from  our  Pa- 
cific coast.  He  was  finally  killed  by  a  wild  bull  while  collecting 
at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  being  then  only  thirty-six  years  of 
age.  It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  more  than  half  the  botani- 
cal collectors  who  have  been  sent  abroad  during  the  present 
century  have  fallen  in  the  field  through  sickness,  accident  or 
violence.  The  amount  of  valuable  labor  performed  by  some 
of  the  gentlemen  who  have  gone  from  Europe  to  act  as  super- 
intendents of  botanic  gardens  in  India  and  elsewhere  is  almost 
incredible.  Dr.  Wallich,  at  Calcutta,  forwarded  to  two  thou- 
sand one  hundred  applicants,  in  different  parts  of  the  world, 
one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  living  plants  in  the  short 
period  of  five  years.  Baron  von  Miiller,  at  the  present  time 
director  of  the  botanic  garden  at  Melbourne,  Australia,  has 
also  been  indefatigable  in  discovering  and  distributing  new 
plants,  as  well  as  in  introducing  foreign  species  which  seemed 
likely  to  prove  of  service  to  the  agricultural  and  horticultural 
interests  of  that  peculiar  country.  Among  other  things ,  he  has 
recommended  the  planting  there  of  the  cranberry,  the  blue- 
berry and  the  huckleberry  in  swamps  and  wilds  which  now 
produce  no  useful  fruit  or  root.  He  has  also  begun  the  cul- 
ture of  the  tea  shrub,  and  has  lately  announced  the  invention 
of  a  machine  for  curing  the  leaves  by  steam,  with  which  two 
men  can  do  the  work  now  requiring  the  aid  of  twenty-five 
Chinamen.  Is  it  not  time  for  Americans  to  begin  to  do  their 
share  in  the  great  work  of  introducing  new  and  valuable  plants 
into  cultivation? 

If,  now,  we  have  attained  to  any  just  apprehension  of  the 
nature  and  utility  of  botanical  studies,  we  are  prepared  to 
consider  what  provision  ought  to  be  made  for  this  department 
in  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College.  The  Board  of 
Agriculture,  as  overseers  of  the  institution  and  guardians  of 
those  public  interests  which  are  by  law  intrusted  to  them, 


21 

may  surely  be  expected  to  regard  with  favor  any  reasonable 
plan  for  its  advancement ;  and  the  people  of  Barre,  with  five 
of  their  young  men  now  members  of  the  College,  will  be  eager 
to  have  the  best  means  provided  for  their  education  in  so  im- 
portant a  branch  of  science,  as  well  as  in  all  its  useful  appli- 
cations, especially  to  agriculture,  forestry  and  horticulture. 
The  trustees  have  from  the  first  treated  this  department  with 
extraordinary  consideration,  and  done  all  in  their  power  to 
promote  its  welfare.  They  have  appropriated  the  most  suit- 
able portion  of  the  College  estate  to  its  objects,  and  erected  a 
tasteful  building  for  a  lecture-room,  library  and  museum. 
Valuable  gifts  of  books  and  plants  have  been  made  by  Hon. 
Marshall  P.  Wilder,  Hon.  Albert  Fearing,  and  many  other 
liberal  benefactors.  William  Knowlton,  Esq.,  has  given  two 
thousand  dollars  for  the  purchase  of  an  extensive  herba- 
rium, and  the  erection  of  glass  cases  for  its  accommodation. 
Dr.  Nathan  Durfee,  himself  a  large  cultivator  of  fruits  and 
flowers,  both  under  glass  and  in  the  open  air,  has  built  the 
beautiful  and  commodious  plant-house  which  bears  his  name, 
at  a  cost  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  The  foundation  of  this  de- 
partment was  laid,  however,  by  Messrs.  L.  M.  and  H.  F.  Hills, 
who  contributed  ten  thousand  dollars  as  a  fund,  the  income 
of  which  should  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  such  books, 
drawings,  apparatus  and  specimens  as  might  be  deemed  most 
desirable  by  the  director  of  the  botanic  garden. 

The  most  pressing  wants  at  the  present  time  are  suitable 
glass  structures  for  propagating  plants,  for  forcing  vegetables 
and  flowers,  and  for  raising  peaches,  apricots,  grapes  and 
pine-apples.  Till  these  are  provided,  it  will  be  impossible  to 
qualify  students  to  act  as  intelligent  and  skilful  gardeners. 
This  profession,  which  should  be  most  attractive  from  its  asso- 
ciations and  honorable  from  the  intelligence  it  requires, — now 
filled  almost  exclusively  by  foreigners, — ought  to  receive  large 
accessions  from  the  ranks  of  our  young  men,  and  would,  if 
they  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  suitable  education.  At  least 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  are  imperatively  needed  to  com- 
plete the  original  design  of  the  Durfee  plant-house,  and  erect 
the  additional  buildings  wanted.  Sales  to  the  amount  of  three 
thousand  dollars  per  annum  might  then  be  made,  which  would 
do  much  toward  rendering  the  department  self-sustaining.  The 


22 

proposed  enlargement  of  the  plant-house  would  also  furnish 
room  for  the  exhibition  of  all  the  most  important  tender 
exotic  plantsin  cultivation,  and  give  more  ample  opportunity 
for  experiments  in  regard  to  the  production  and  improvement 
of  varieties  by  the  growth  of  seedlings,  by  hybridization,  by 
modifications  of  heat,  light,  soil  and  plant-food  in  the  liquid 
or  gaseous  state.  Valuable  results  might  also  be  obtained  by 
the  trial  of  various  methods  for  the  prevention  of  injury  to 
plants,  cultivated  under  glass  as  well  as  out  of  doors,  from 
both  the  vegetable  and  animal  enemies  which  cause  so  much 
loss  and  annoyance  to  the  gardener. 

In  order  to  accomplish  the  proper  work  of  the  College  in 
this  department,  whether  for  the  instruction  of  its  students, 
the  improvement  of  agriculture  in  its  various  branches,  or  the 
advancement  of  botanical  science,  it  is  essential  that  orchards, 
vineyards  and  gardens  be  cultivated  in  the  best  manner,  with 
every  desirable  variety  of  large  and  small  fruits  and  esculent 
vegetables  which  are  known  to  thrive  in  our  own  climate ; 
besides  which  experiments  should  be  undertaken  with  such  as 
are  new  and  untried  in  Massachusetts,  but  are  found  to  be 
valuable  in  other  localities.  It  is  quite  possible  that  varieties, 
originating  in  different  regions  of  our  own  or  other  countries, 
might  prove  great  acquisitions  to  us,  even  though  decidedly 
modified  by  our  soil  and  climate.  Thus  it  is  said  the  Roxbury 
Russet,  so  remarkable  for  its  keeping  qualities  here,  becomes 
in  Mississippi  a  fine  summer  apple.  Some  French  pears,  like 
the  Beurre  d'Anjou,  introduced  by  Colonel  Wilder,  are  found 
to  thrive  well  here  ;  while  many  others,  apparently  promising, 
for  some  unknown  reason  produce  uncertain  crops,  worthless 
fruit  or  unhealthy  wood.  It  is  certainly  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  judicious  experiments  might  demonstrate  the  fact 
that  these  modifications,  desirable  or  otherwise,  depend  upon 
the  nature  of  the  soil  in  its  proportion  of  water,  clay,  lime  or 
organic  matter ;  the  aspect ;  the  shelter  or  exposure  to  winds  ; 
the  elevation  above  the  sea  level ;  the  pruning  ;  the  thinning 
of  the  fruit ;  or  the  stock  on  which  the  variety  is  set.  In 
Robinson's  interesting  work,  "The  Parks,  Promenades  and 
Gardens  of  Paris,"  are  many  suggestive  facts  relating  to  this 
matter.  He  informs  us  that  even  in  that  delightful,  sunny 
climate,  apples,  pears,  peaches  and  apricots  are  grown  iii 


23 

enormous  quantities  upon  white  walls  ten  to  twelve  feet  high, 
with  movable  copings  two  feet  wide.  These  Avails  or  screens 
are  built  of  brick,  stone,  or  even  of  felt,  parallel  to  each  other 
in  an  east  and  west  direction,  and  thirty  feet  apart,  and  only 
the  south  side  is  utilized.  In  this  way  the  crop  is  certain  and 
of  the  finest  quality,  as  the  prices  obtained  indicate.  Apples 
of  the  Calville  Blanc  variety,  raised  on  Paradise  stocks,  with 
shelter,  are  often  sold  at  from  fifty  cents  to  seventy-five  cents 
each,  and  are  sent  even  to  St.  Petersburg,  where  they  are 
sold  for  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  apiece.  The  finest  winter 
pears,  as  Easter  Beurre,  are  produced  in  perfection  only  on 
walls ;  while  many  others,  as  Duchesse  d'Angouleme,  are 
grown  admirably  on  trellises  with  a  movable  roof  for  protec- 
tion from  cold  rains  and  frosts  during  spring.  At  Montreuil, 
are  two  hundred  and  fifty  gardens  devoted  to  the  wall  culture 
of  the  peach,  the  land  betAveen  the  walls  being  planted  with 
strawberries,  asparagus  and  other  vegetables.  As  experi- 
mental culture  must  occupy  a  long  period  of  years,  it  is  of 
the  utmost  consequence  to  have  it  tried  upon  lands  inalien- 
ably devoted  to  the  object,  lest  they  be  sold  for  house-lots, 
which  threatens  the  famous  pear-orchard  where  our  eminent 
pomologist,  Colonel  Wilder,  has  experimented  Avith  so  great 
success  in *y ears  past.  The  Royal  Horticultural  Society  now 
cultivate  in  their  fruit  department,  at  Chiswick,  near  London, 
four  hundred  varieties  of  apples,  three  hundred  and  fifty 
of  pears,  three  hundred  of  plums,  four  hundred  and  thirty  of 
cherries,  tAvo  hundred  and  twenty  of  grapes,  and  one  hundred 
of  figs.  From  this  garden  were  distributed,  in  1871,  seventy 
thousand  plants,  sixty  thousand  packages  of  seeds,  and  four 
thousand  fiVe  hundred  packages  of  scions  and  cuttings.  The 
possible  benefit  to  be  derived  from  such  collections,  properly 
managed,  must  be  immense.  The  importance  of  having  such 
standard  plantations  for  the  purpose  of  verifying  names  and 
comparing  A'arieties,  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  in  England  it  has 
been  discovered,  at  the  exhibitions  of  the  Horticultural  Society, 
that  the  Black  Hamburg  grape  is  sold  under  thirty-six  dif- 
ferent names,  the  Black  Cluster  under  forty-six,  and  the 
Grosse  Mignonne  peach  under  forty.  If  this  can  happen  in 
the  case  of  common  kinds  of  fruit,  what  mistakes  may  not  be 
looked  for  in  those  which  are  less  known  ? 


24 

Another  very  useful  branch  of  gardening  which  ought  to 
receive  thorough  attention  at  the  College  is  the  raising  of 
seeds  of  all  kinds.  The  finest  varieties  of  vegetables,  grains, 
grasses  and  flowers,  ornamental  shrubs  and  forest  trees, 
should  be  grown,  and  the  seeds  carefully  saved  for  exchange 
or  sale,  so  far  as  there  might  be  found  a  demand  for  them. 
This  practice  would  be  a  valuable  means  of  education,  and 
would  benefit  the  public  by  furnishing  clean  seeds  of  reliable 
sorts,  a  most  important  matter  to  all  cultivators  of  the  soil, 
but  especially  to  market  gardeners,  and  yield  an  income  for 
the  benefit  of  the  department. 

Finally,  liberal  provision  should  be  made  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble for  planting  and  supporting  a  botanic  garden.  This 
should  consist  of  a  tract  of  not  less  than  thirty  acres,  taste- 
fully laid  out  as  ornamental  grounds,  and  containing  a  large 
collection  of  such  trees,  shrubs  and  herbaceous  plants  from 
all  quarters  of  the  globe  as  will  endure  our  climate  in  favor- 
able situations  with  little  or  no  protection.  They  should 
illustrate  as  far  as  possible  the  general  characters  of  the  va- 
rious groups  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  should  be  arranged 
with  regard  to  the  natural  system  of  classification,  and  every 
species  and  variety  should  be  correctly  and  .conspicuously 
labelled  for  the  benefit  of  students  in  botany.  Besides  these, 
there  should  be  special  collections  of  those  plants  used  in  ag- 
riculture, horticulture  and  medicine ;  and  a  Massachusetts 
collection,  including  every  indigenous  species  of  flowering 
plants,  and  all  the  larger  and  more  durable  cryptogams. 

The  proper  maintenance  and  development  of  such  collections 
as  have  been  named  necessitate  extensive  nursery-grounds, 
with  suitable  conveniences  for  propagation  from  seeds,  bulbs, 
roots,  green  and  woody  cuttings,  as  well  as  by  layers,  graft- 
ing and  budding.  This,  however,  properly  managed,  would 
be  a  source  of  revenue,  and  an  indispensable  means  for  the 
thorough  education  of  practical  gardeners. 

What  then  remains  to  be  done  ?  Why  not  go  forward  with 
the  work  and  complete  this  magnificent  design?  With  so 
many  wealthy,  influential  and  appreciating  friends,  nothing 
would  be  easier  than  to  plant  a  few  acres  with  interesting 
species,  and  call  the  collection  a  botanic  garden.  But  the 
history  of  such  enterprises,  in  this  and  other  countries,  shows 


25 

that  it  is  not  difficult  to  fail  of  permanent  and  satisfactory 
success,  unless  ample  means  are  provided  at  the  outset  to 
defray  the  unavoidable  expenses  of  such  establishments. 

In  1801,  a  botanic  garden  was  started  at  Cambridge  upon  a 
small  tract  of  unsuitable  land,  but  it  has  never  flourished  nor 
been  of  much  use,  except  to  supply  a  few  specimens  for  the 
illustration  of  botanical  lectures.  It  certainly  is  not  credita- 
ble to  the  alumni  of  Harvard,  that,  with  all  their  munificent 
gifts  to  their  alma  mater,  they  have  so  neglected  a  department 
which  has  received  such  abundant  honor  in  foreign  universities. 
Quite  recently  it  has  been  announced  that  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  has  been  given  to  establish  an 
arboretum  upon  the  Bussey  estate  at  West  Roxbury,  in  con- 
nection with  the  agricultural  department  of  the  University. 
This  is  a  move  in  the  right  direction,  and  evidently  made  with 
an  appreciation  of  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the  under- 
taking. Within  a  few  years,  also,  through  the  liberality  of 
Nathaniel  Thayer,  Esq.,  excellent  accommodations  have  been 
provided  for  the  extensive  herbarium  principally  collected  by 
Professor  Asa  Gray,  whose  labors  in  this  department  of 
science  have  won  for  him  a  world-wide  reputation.  The  mar- 
vellous achievements  of  the  illustrious  director  of  the  Museum 
of  Comparative  Zoology  at  Cambridge,  in  procuring  money  for 
building  and  endowment,  would  seem  to  indicate  that  possibly 
the  claims  of  the  botanical  department  may  not  in  former 
times  have  been  presented  to  the  solid  men  of  Boston,  or  the 
state  legislature,  with  sufficient  clearness  or  urgency.  With 
rare  exceptions,  wealthy  men,  burdened  with  the  care  of  busi- 
ness, however  distinguished  for  liberality,  can  hardly  be 
expected  to  devote  much  of  their  valuable  time  to  investiga- 
ting the  necessities  of  the  scientific  departments  in  our  educa- 
tional institutions.  Hence  the  obvious  propriety  of  full  and 
specific  explanations  of  their  objects  and  wants,  and  of  awak- 
ening a  public  interest  in  them,  as  the  most  rational  means  of 
obtaining  the  funds  required  for  their  proper  support. 

The  only  remaining  item,  then,  to  be  mentioned  as  indis- 
pensable to  the  successful  organization  and  working  of  the 
botanical  department  of  the  College,  is  a  fund  of  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars,  the  income  of  which  may  serve  as  the  active 
capital  of  the  establishment.  This  would  be  used  principally 


26 

to  pay  for  the  labor  of  students  in  performing  the  various 
operations  in  the  gardens  and  plant-houses,  and  so  would  do 
double  service  in  the  cause  of  education.  The  money  thus 
expended  would  enable  indigent  students  to  earn  something 
toward  their  support,  would  encourage  habits  of  industry  and 
self-reliance,  and  render  it  possible  to  keep  the  grounds  and 
buildings  in  good  condition  without  any  draft  upon  the 
general  treasury.  Begun  in  the  manner  suggested,  and  car- 
ried forward  wisely  for  a  few  years  under  an  enthusiastic, 
intelligent  and  indefatigable  director,  the  entire  project  would 
so  commend  itself  to  the  public  that  abundant  means  would 
be  furnished  for  needed  improvements,  while  the  annual 
income  from  sales  would  steadily  increase  with  the  increase  of 
stock  and  reputation. 

Many  other  subjects,  which  might  legitimately  be  con- 
sidered in  this  discussion,  did  time  allow,  must  be  entirely 
omitted,  or  receive  but  a  passing  notice.  For  instance,  the 
great  pecuniary  value  of  even  the  slightest  real  advance  in 
agriculture  or  horticulture,  in  consequence  of  the  enormous 
aggregate  value  of  their  products,  is  worthy  of  notice.  Thus 
an  increase  of  only  one  per  cent,  in  the  wheat  crop  of 
the  United  States  would  amount  to  2,877,456  bushels. 
There  can  be  no  question  that  in  many  ways  this  might  be 
brought  about.  The  use  of  the  best  variety  of  seed  often 
does  much  more  than  this  in  all  crops.  Hence  the  importance 
of  experimental  grounds  for  testing  varieties  of  plants  and 
modes  of  culture. 

Again,  the  introduction  of  new  fruits  or  crops  often  results 
in  untold  good  to  a  country.  Thus  the  sugar-beet  in  France 
and  Germany  has  wonderfully  improved  the  whole  system  of 
farming,  and  vastly  increased  the  wealth  of  these  nations.  In 
like  manner  the  fig,  the  orange  and  the  olive  are  valuable 
acquisitions  to  California.  In  1839,  a  missionary  transported 
from  the  splendid  garden  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  to  the 
Navigator's  Islands  a  single  banana  plant,  which  increased 
rapidly,  and  now  the  people  are  abundantly  supplied  with  this 
agreeable  and  most  nutritious  fruit.  We  might  profitably 
consider  the  desirableness  to  the  farmer  of  an  acquaintance 
with  the  origin  and  characteristics  of  the  weeds  he  would 
exterminate  and  the  crops  he  would  produce  ;  the  importance 


27 

of  knowing  what  each  cultivated  plant  takes  from  the  soil  and 
what  it  requires  for  its  best  development ;  and  the  necessity 
of  understanding  the  relative  value  of  the  different  grasses 
and  other  kinds  of  fodder  for  his  special  purposes. 

The  exceeding  value  of  botanical  knowledge  to  those 'who 
attempt  the  cultivation  of  ornamental  plants,  either  indoors 
or  out,  both  in  enabling  them  to  select  the  best  species  for 
their  peculiar  circumstances,  and  to  obtain  desired  results, 

miffht  easilv  be  made  evident.      There  is  now  an  immense 

&  <i 

waste  of  money,  labor  and  love  in  consequence  of  misdirected 
effort  in  floriculture.  The  pleasures  and  profits  to  be  derived 
from  the  intelligent  cultivation  of  good  vegetables,  fruits  and 
flowers,  for  the  farmer's  family  especially,  and  the  consequent 
importance  of  educating  the  students  at  the  College  as 
thoroughly  as  possible  in  these  matters,  might  be  enlarged 
upon  with  great  propriety. 

Finally,  a  description  of  some  f)f  the  famous  gardens  of 
Europe,  such  as  those  at  London,  Paris  and  Berlin,  would  be 
very  entertaining,  and  show  what  may  be  accomplished  in  this 
direction  with  ample  means  and  talent  of  the  first  order, 
while*  it  would  also  demonstrate  the  the  comparative  modera- 
tion and  economy  of  the  plan  now  proposed  for  adoption. 

Thus  the  council  having  in  charge  the  Jardin  des  Plantes 
have  recently  recommended  the  erection  of  conservatories,  to 
cost  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  to  replace  those  destroyed 
in  the  late  seige.  The  magnificent  palm-house  at  Kew  is 
built  of  iron  and  glass,  and  is  three  hundred  and  sixty-two 
feet  long,  and  the  main  portion  is  one  hundred  feet  wide  and 
sixty-six  feet  high,  with  a  gallery  thirty  feet  in  hight,  from 
which  the  visitor  may  look  down  upon  a  most  superb  variety 
of  tropical  vegetation.  These  gardens  now  contain  the  larg- 
est and  best  arranged  collection  of  living  plants  in  the  world, 
as  well  as  the  most  complete  herbarium  and  botanical  mu- 
seum. Nothing  could  show  the  utility  of  such  institutions 
more  conclusively  than  the  history  of  Kew  Gardens  during 
the  past  thirty  years.  The  estimation  in  which  they  are  held 
by  the  public  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  were  visited  in 
1871  by  five  hundred  and  seventy-seven  thousand  persons. 
While  many  expensive  features  of  these  large  gardens  near 
the  great  capitals  of  Europe  are  neither  possible  nor  desirable 


28 

at  Amherst,  yet  the  facilities  which  have  been  enumerated  for 
the  study  of  Botany  in  its  various  departments  and  applica- 
tions are  absolutely  essential,  if  the  State  College  for  farmers 
is  to  maintain  a  high  position  as  a  school  of  science  and  to  be 
eminently  efficient  in  the  advancement  of  agriculture  and 
horticulture.  The  appropriate  work  to  be  executed  there  is 
grand  enough  to  satisfy  the  ambition  of  the  most  gifted  botan- 
ist, or  the  most  wealthy  and  liberal  patron  of  learning.  As 
the  field  is  all  ready  for  occupation,  and  trees  grow  while  men 
sleep,  it  is  fervently  to  be  hoped  the  planting  may  speedily 
begin. 

The  possible  and  unforeseen  advantages  to  be  derived  from 
cultivating  together  representative  forms  of  vegetation  from 
different  countries,  and  so  imparting  to  beholders  some  con- 
ception of  the  variety  and  magnificence  of  the  flowers  and 
foliage  with  which  the  Creator  has  adorned  the  earth,  are 
beautifully  shown  by  an  incident  in  the  life  of  the  renowned 
author  of  "Cosmos."  He  informs  us  that  "the  sight  of  a 
colossal  dragon  tree  and  a  fan  palm  in  an  old  tower  of  the 
botanic  garden  at  Berlin,  implanted  in  his  mind  the  seeds  of 
an  irresistible  desire  to  undertake  distant  travels."  The  vol- 
umes containing  the  results  of  his  journeys  in  Europe,  Asia 
and  America,  are  justly  regarded  as  among  the  most  learned 
and  philosophical  treatises  which  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
They  have  been  translated  into  all  the  principal  languages  of 
civilized  nations,  and  must  in  the  ages  to  come  be  a  perennial 
source  of  instruction  and  pleasure  to  every  scientific  lover  of 
Nature.  Who  can  say  that  some  American  youth  might  not 
be  inspired  by  the  scenes  in  a  Massachusetts  garden  to  enter, 
like  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  upon  a  glorious  career  of  use- 
fulness ? 

In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  mention  a  circumstance  in  my 
own  personal  history  in  further  illustration  of  the  most  im- 
portant principle  that  all  faithful  and  worthy  study  of  pure 
science,  without  regard  to  its  immediate  application  in  the 
arts,  will  inevitably  result  sooner  or  later  in  some  substan- 
tial good.  More  than  twenty  years •  ago  I  went  to  Europe  to 
qualify  myself  to  become  a  practical  geologist,  and  spending 
a  few  weeks  in  London,  I  visited  the  Kew  Gardens.  Here  I 
beheld,  with  wonder  and  delight,  the  first  specimen  ever  culti- 


29 

vated  of  the  Victoria  regia,  the  grandest  plant  in  both  leaf  and 
blossom  ever  seen  in  the  temperate  zone.  In  this  imposing 
presence  the  resolution  was  formed  to  create,  if  possible,  a 
botanic  garden  in  the  United  States,  and  reproduce  there  this 
superb  water-lily.  The  consequence  was  that  my  plan  of  ope- 
rations were  changed,  so  that  instead  of  seeking  my  fortune  in 
the  mining  regions  of  the  far  West,  I  became  in  due  time  a 
teacher  at  Amherst.  My  connection  with  the  Agricultural 
College  resulted  directly  from  the  opportunity  there  offered 
to  begin  the  accomplishment  of  my  botanical  purposes ;  and 
already  my  heart's  desire  to  look  upon  the  flowers  of  the 
Victoria  unfolding  their  beauty  and  exhaling  their  fragrance 
in  my  own  country  has  been  repeatedly  gratified  in  the  Dur- 
fee  plant-house.  Whatever  has  been  or  may  be  achieved  at 
the  College  through  my  instrumentality,  must  therefore  be 
credited  to  the  Royal  Botanic  Gardens  at  Kew. 


